Out of all the laptops shown this CES 2019, the LG Gram 17 was the only one that caught my attention. An ultrabook with a 17-inch display and still light as a 13.3-inch ultrabook. I’ve heard of how light the LG Gram laptops are but I never held one in person. Taking it out the box for the first time I couldn’t believe how light it was. The best way to describe it is like picking up a display model without the internals. The weight is distributed very well so any side you can easily pick it up one-handed. The build is made of what LG calls nanocarbon and magnesium. It's not quite feeling of some of the aluminum build laptops but neither does it feel like cheap plastic. There is some flex on the body and screen so it’s not 100% solid feeling but not flimsy either. If you want something that feels solid like a tank this will not be it. It does feel hollow in some ways due to how light it is. Overall is a nice combination of light hardware that doesn’t feel like it will come apart or break on the first drop. With a rating of 810-G military ruggedness small drops and bumps the laptop should come unscathed. As for design, it has the MacBook style to it. The display is huge, colorful, sharp and bright with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. The 16:10 aspect ratio is a sweet spot between the 16:9 and 3:2 ratios. It has become my go-to device when it comes to web browsing and especially consuming media. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube look amazing on this 2k display. It’s a glossy display but bright enough to use outdoors. Even though it’s not a touchscreen display I’m fine with it since it’s not a 2 in 1 device. Color accuracy is very good and supports HDR Video. The display offers so much screen real estate that makes it an excellent productivity machine to get some work done. It’s wide enough to comfortably work with a split screen view of a word/excel document and web page at the same time. Too bad you can’t enjoy some Triple AAA games on this display more on that later. The speakers on the Gram 17 are actually pretty good they can get loud and have a nice crisp sound to them. The DTS software allows you to increase the bass and choose from surround sound to 3d effect. My preference so far has been the 3d effect because it increases the vocals and sounds much louder overall. Some more bass to them would of sweeten the deal. Most ultrabooks have a poor selection of I/0 ports. LG did not hold back when it came to ports selection. You get a full-size HDMI port, x3 full size 3.1 USB port and 1 USB Type C Port with full Thunderbolt 3 support for eGPU support and multi-display output with charging capabilities. LG does include a barrel charger but you can also charge it via the USB C port. With a proper USB C charger, it charges just as quick as the barrel connector provided from LG. I would prefer to have USB C on both sides for the flexibility of charging from either side. Don’t worry about the dongle life LG has you covered. It also comes with 3.5mm headphone jack and micro sd slot. The keyboard is ok for the most part. The keys have a travel distance of around 1.2mm The keys are also backlit and you can adjust the brightness or turn it off completely. You also have the option to use the hotkeys without the function button. Windows hello is supported via the fingerprint/power button located on the top right-hand corner. The fingerprint scanner is accurate and fast. The trackpad is average size but with a slick surface. So far this is my favorite trackpad on a laptop. It’s very slick that it actually took me a little bit longer to adjust to it since my finger glides without any friction. Another thing I like about it how clicky it is and not wobbly either. Since it’s an also a Microsoft Precision Driver trackpad the multi-gestures work very good. Even though it feels like there is no internals in it LG packed in some serious hardware. Let’s start off with the quadcore 8th Gen i7-8565U 1.80GHz/4.60GHz it’s fast and slightly faster than last year 8th Gen i7 8550u. Unfortunately, there is no discrete GPU just the Intel UHD 620 so don’t expect to be doing any type hardcore gaming. You might be able to do some Overwatch or Fortnite at low settings with a resolution of 720p with framerates around the low 30s. To help keep things moving fast memory comes in at 16gb dual channel configuration. If 16gbs of memory is not enough for you there is one slot available to swap out the 8gb stick for 16gb or 32gb stick if you desire. For storage, you get a 512gb m2 SATA 3 drive. Read/Write speeds are around 500mb which is still plenty fast compared to a mechanical drive but falls short of the NVMe speeds of around 1800mb. Windows still boots up quick under 20 seconds including fingerprint recognition. The motherboard does support m2 NVMe drives and you have the option to another m2 drive if you happen to run out of storage on the main drive. Since this an ultrabook heat and noise dissipation are minimal. It did get warm when Windows was performing updates on the first boot but nothing like gaming laptop territory. As for the fan noise, you can barely hear it. On the LG Control center, there is an option called stealth mode which will limit CPU performance to keep the fans turned off. The performance will take a slight hit to accomplish this but it’s hard to notice it. This combination of hardware will perform well on all kind of task you throw at it including light video editing. As for wireless connectivity, you get Intel latest 802.11 A/C (2X2) 9560 WiFi card and Bluetooth 5.0. WiFi speeds and signal were very good. Front facing camera is on the top bezel and video quality is decent. Battery life even though I wasn’t able to achieve the 19.5 hours that LG claims I still managed to get right around 10-12hrs of mixed usage before needing to plug in the charger. This was a combination of web browsing, a couple of hours of Youtube and Netflix streaming and office productivity work. For the most part, the brightness was kept around 50% and half of the time I was using Bluetooth headphones too. I can confidently take this laptop fully charge to work without needing to bring the charger along and still come home with enough juice left over to relax with some Netflix streaming. An intensive task like video editing will drain the battery quicker. You will not be disappointed by the battery life. Last but not least is the price. At this price point, there’s plenty of good options to choose from the ultrabook segment. For the most part, the specs will be the same except for display type, discrete GPU (MX150) and build quality. With the LG Gram 17, you’re getting an amazing display along with very good build quality. The determining factor is going to be the GPU and overall size. Most 17-inch laptops available are either going to be gaming or workstations. They’re heavy and battery life not even close to what the Gram offers in terms of overall size, weight and battery life. Ultrabooks are not meant to be gaming machines the chassis are too thin to be able to provide adequate cooling needed for those type of chips. I can see why LG did not include an MX150 due to added weight from the additional heatsink and fan. LG goal was to create the lightest 17-inch laptop and I strongly believe they achieved that. For the 2nd gen version, I would like to see LG offer it with a Ryzen 7 since the integrated Vega GPU is much better than the Intel offering or the option to get with an MX150. At the end of the day If you’re looking for a productivity road warrior with strong battery life that won’t feel like a chore carrying around the LG Gram 17 should be on top of your list.

I have had this laptop now for a couple of weeks. I must say, I am really enjoying it. I have gone through several different philosophies about screen size. At first, most laptops were all 15 inches. Then they started getting smaller in size to improve portability. I bought one that was 13.3 inches and I told myself I was not missing the extra size very much. However, things change over time. Now, I have a couple different size of iPads. If I want something really small I will use 1 of those. I decided to go to a 15 inch screen, and I got an LG Gram after reading lots of positive reviews. I was not disappointed and the extreme low weight was a treat. I found that when I wanted to do serious work, I never wanted to use a small screen anymore. That got me to thinking–why not go all the way and get that 17 inch screen. Now I have had it for about 2 weeks or more. I like the extra screen resolution, it is not quite 4K, but it is more than 1080p. The screen is bright with great color saturation. The laptop is noticeably heavier than my 15 inch screen but it is still less than 3 pounds and it is really nothing at all. If I am working with it on my lap, I hardly notice it. I am absolutely stunned by, how much different it is to have a 17 inch screen with extra resolution. It makes it so much more pleasant to do my work when I am using a laptop. There are no downsides to this computer that I have found. It has plenty of ports including a Thunderbolt 3 connector that does accept a charge. The keyboard is just fine. I like the back lighting of the keys. The track pad is a little bigger than on some laptops but I like it. It works well and it is nice and smooth. Taken as a whole, this is, hands down, my favorite PC yet. It is fast and smooth. It is very quiet. Stays cool. I will admit, it is expensive–but no more so than other premium PCs out there. If you are reading this review, you probably know that it has integrated graphics only. This keeps it quieter, lighter, and improves battery life. For me, it is just fine. I never use my laptop for gaming purposes. Integrated graphics of this 4 core, eighth generation CPU are just fine for my needs. I have never seen one problem whatsoever. I have output this PC onto an external monitor without a hiccup. When you choose a super premium PC, you may find that the manufacturer has targeted the PC toward a certain need that the market may have. This 1 is definitely going to be portability, battery life, productivity. They hit a home run. It matches my needs 100%. With regards to battery life, I do not get the 19 hours that is advertised on the website. That is a laboratory number. However, I use my laptop about half time at work, over a 12 hour shift, continuously using wireless networking and running a virtual desktop and easily get through my shift without ever a need for re-charge. We are talking about 6 or 8 hours without any trouble at all. Taken as a whole, I am super satisfied and find this to be my favorite laptop yet.

When you see the distinctive box the LG Gram 17” arrives in you know straightaway that there is something special waiting inside. When I unboxed and lifted the LG Gram, I had the distinct sensation that the laptop was going to float. It is truly that light. Impressed so much I had a couple friends pick up the Gram, the expression on their faces spoke volumes. Compared to my latest 15” gaming laptop the Gram is half the weight which I highly appreciated, particularly if I have been watching TV from the couch and have to use two hands to move the 15” aside. The Gram can be lifted effortlessly with one hand. The LG Gram is also lighter than our 12” Chromebook. Remarkable! Took only one look and the first boot up of the LG Gram for me to replace my Fire Breathing 15” Gamer with the LG Gram, the Gram is faster in all aspects of operation (graphics processing aside) and the 17” screen is marvelous. The Gram has an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 which may put off some buyers if they are into gaming, to me it is not an issue as I stream my Steam games from my desktop running a GTX 1070. All my titles run smooth as ice. Fact is my Kid told me about the streaming option and as soon as he saw the joy in my face, he made off with the gaming laptop. - If LG had installed a discrete GPU it would have defeated the goal of developing the lightest 17” laptop on the planet. The heat of a high-end discrete GPU requires extensive cooling/equipment. Streaming works for me. Take Nano Carbon Fiber, add magnesium into the blend and you have the metal alloy that houses this workhorse decked out in sheep’s clothing. The melding of the materials to create the laptop case obviously have achieved lowering the weight while maintaining strength and rigidity. Not a big fan of the newer plastic cases, so hat is off to LG for a brilliantly designed case. Don’t let the light weight fool you, to quote LG’s site; “This LG gram is more than ready to handle your average bumps and thumps, day in and day out. From shock and dust to extreme temperatures and more, this laptop has passed seven tests of the U.S. military standard….” Enjoy Fingerprint option for login. That is way cool and so easy, when turning your laptop on just hold down on the power button a moment and it will boot and log you in all in one step. If you leave the computer for a bit and need to login again, simply touch the power button with your finger. The Gram has one extra m.2 NVMe SSD slot a for expanding the storage. Nice touch. Not sure why there is not an additional memory slot to upgrade from 16GB, even though 16GB meets all my requirements. LG has not provided a full set of user manual/documentation. The documentation that is available; “Most comprehensive document of product setup and usage” is no more than a cursory system overview. Within the documentation there is a section “Setup and Upgrade” which has no information on upgrading, as in adding a second SSD. Being a big fan of LG products, I expect this is only an oversight (which happens all too often in new product releases) and LG will be providing customers with useful downloadable documentation soon. Good Stuff: - Great I/O Thunderbolt 3 - USB 3.1 Type C - HDMI HDCP 2.2 - USB 3.1 Type A (3) - 2560x1600 17” WQXGA IPS Screen with 16:00 Aspect Ratio - Long Battery Life – Getting 9-10 hours runtime – Long Cord for the Charger - Keyboard has nice tactile feedback – Trackpad is good and accurate - “Love” that the Trackpad can be set to auto disable when mouse is connected - 8th Gen I7-8565U – 4 Cores – Smoking Fast - 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz memory - 512GB m.2 NVMe SSD - DTS Headphone:X - Grab a good Headset and get ready for 11.1 Channels of the Wow Factor! Have had a long line of excellent laptops and the LG Gram 17” is by far the most Brilliantly Designed, Engineered and Capable in my experience. Looking for a High-End Laptop, give it a Test Drive, the LG Gram Delivers.

Speed and weight are the two most obvious metrics that get balanced against each other in the laptop market. To have one usually means a sacrifice to the other; a laptop with desktop-level performance might tip the scale like a dumbbell weight, while the lightest machines struggle to load a second tab in the web browser. Now on its third generation, LG’s Gram series has lofty goals to knock out the fat from workstation machines, making high-performance laptops as light as possible while keeping them durable enough to handle the rigors of daily use and transport. New for this generation is a 17-inch model that provides vastly improved screen real estate while keeping within the loose definition of a 15-inch laptop. With satisfying performance, plenty of connectivity, and robust build quality, LG’s Gram 17 weighs in with a premium portable workstation experience to match its premium price. - Initial Impressions LG has aimed high with how they packaged the Gram. The minimalist packaging echoes premium brands, and although instructions are sparse they’re hardly needed for a plug-and-play laptop. The included power brick is on the smaller side, and the inclusion of a USB-C to USB-A dongle is a nice touch. The laptop was also padded and protected well, which was a welcome discovery after the delivery carrier mishandled it. The most impressive thing about this laptop is, obviously, its weight. At just under 3 pounds this laptop weighs less than most small-screen budget laptops, which makes build quality a crucial factor. Despite an all-plastic chassis with only a magnesium lid, the laptop exhibits minimal flex and feels very sturdy. A matte texture all around, including on the keyboard surface, hides fingerprints excellently. The only issue I found is that the display hinge, while strong, allows an average amount of wobble. Setup was very straightforward, though the initial configuration took a while (likely due to a Windows update that came out between the laptop’s release and today). Refreshingly, LG included no superfluous bloatware out of the box. Only a few pre-installed apps beyond the typical Windows 10 advertisements are to be found, and they are all specific to the Gram 17 or LG’s support services. - Keyboard & Trackpad The typing surface is well-reinforced and exhibits only the smallest amount of flex under hard pressure. Keys have a short travel (a necessity given how thin the laptop is) but actuate well and register accurately. I had no issues with keys registering, though it took a while to get used to the narrow numpad and the limited selection of function keys. On a number of occasions I was tripped up by an errant Num Lock press doing heavy Excel work. This will still satisfy most accountants’ portable data entry needs, but as a workstation a separate tenkey board is still recommended. A neat addition is the combination power button and fingerprint reader, allowing Windows Hello logins to bypass the password altogether. The reader on the LG Gram 17 is very accurate and had no trouble picking up my fingerprint from a bevy of angles and partial scans. Just make sure you don’t push so hard that you trigger the power button! The spacious trackpad appears to use the Windows Precision drivers, and doesn’t get in the way while working (about the highest praise one can give a trackpad). The trackpad clicks depress the bottom corners of the pad for a physical “click” that I found mushier than I’d like, but this is a matter of preference as I’ve been spoiled by haptic feedback touchpads. - Screen & Audio With a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2560x1600 display, LG does what few manufacturers do and offer a laptop with an ideal workspace. The additional screen height makes multitasking considerably easier, and the high resolution makes it possible to view applications and websites side-by-side at their native resolution. Windows display scaling is enabled by default but can of course be dialed back. Resolution is nothing without good color reproduction, and LG’s IPS panel here does not disappoint. Colors are rich and vibrant with solid black levels, and viewing angles are pretty good as well, helped further by a partially matte finish that slightly reduces glare. Though not quite reaching 100% sRGB gamut, this screen is still accurate enough to allow most production and design work after calibration. That being said, any audio work will require headphones. The speakers on the Gram 17 are the weakest part of the entire laptop, delivering tinny, weak audio that doesn’t get very loud. This isn’t a major issue given the ubiquity of studio headphones and the Gram’s included headphone jack, but was a mild disappointment given the excellent impressions I have of the laptop otherwise. - Performance The Intel quad-core processor, generous RAM, and solid state disk all harmonize into a fantastic workstation experience on par with desktops. With a high turbo frequency, the processor continuously adjusts its performance on demand to balance battery life against power, but even at low speed the processor is so fast it you’d hardly notice. CPU-intensive apps run flawlessly, and memory-hungry ones have a good amount of room to reach their performance potential. The SSD is a SATA type rather than an NVMe type, which means transfer speeds are 1/4th as fast as they could be, but the system is still snappy and responsive enough that this is a trivial concern. Of course, without a dedicated GPU, this machine isn’t designed for gaming. eSports titles are passable at minimum settings and half resolution, but even then the Intel UHD graphics struggle to maintain a fluid framerate and the laptop gets warm. Best to stick to rounds of Bejeweled rather than Fortnite when you need a break from work. One thing to be mindful of is that the Gram only has a small, low profile cooling fan for the CPU that vents below the screen. The fan rarely kicks on and is barely audible on most productivity sessions, but will not be enough for sustained full saturation of the CPU (e.g. video rendering) without significant performance throttling. - Connectivity / Peripherals The Gram 17 keeps the standard array of USB ports that business users will appreciate, all of which are USB 3.0. The USB-C port is indeed a Thunderbolt 3 port, allowing ultra high speed data transfer along the PCIe bus, which keeps it relevant for future uses such as plugging in an external GPU for accelerated graphics rendering or GPU compute. A full-size HDMI port ensures that the laptop can connect easily to any projector or television display without needing to carry around adapters and cables. Although there’s no Ethernet jack, the WiFi and Bluetooth adapter maintain strong connections with high signal strength even at long distances from an access point. The webcam and microphone are both just adequate for mobile needs. The camera is a bit washed-out and grainy in low light situations, and the microphone is a bit quiet but serviceable. They’ll both do for video meetings but you’ll definitely want to grab a speaker at minimum for a conference with multiple people in the room. - Battery & Charging LG’s claims of a 19 hour battery life are overly optimistic and unrealistic. I average about 11 hours per charge dependent on use, though I suspect 13-plus is possible at full power saving mode and lower screen brightness. Certainly nothing terrible by any stretch. I was disappointed that there only seemed to be DC-plug charging on the laptop, but to my surprise when I plugged in a USB-C charger, the Gram accepted the connection and began recharging the battery. A minimum 10 watt power adapter (5 volts at 2 amps, similar to most tablet chargers) is needed and the machine won’t charge nearly as fast as it would on the DC power brick, but the option to bring just a universal USB-C charger along is a fantastic option for travelers. Given the power brick weighs nearly a third that of the laptop itself, lower bag weight at the expense of charging speed is a fair tradeoff. - Bottom Line LG’s Gram 17 laptop takes a few light jabs for some minor annoyances but ends in a knockout victory. This is a startlingly light laptop that almost feels impossible in the hands, but the performance and usability on tap makes this an excellent machine all around. It’s a worthy consideration against premium rivals not just in the Windows space, but against those running alternative operating systems as well. I went in with considerable expectations given its price but still came away highly impressed and reconsidering my notions of the sacrifices that a powerful machine must make to bring the desktop experience to the road. A winner by unanimous decision after going all 12 rounds, the LG Gram 17 comes highly recommended!

So I've given myself a few days with my laptop and I have to say "I LOVE IT!" I said "bigger is better", because the screen is beyond other laptops I've had. I am pretty sure it's the more square design as opposed to rectangular like others that make the landscape of the screen amazing. It honestly feels like the iMax of laptops. It is coined the Gram for a reason and at first when I was handling it I felt like I had a children's toy in my hand because it was too light to be real so this is going to do so well in my work bag. My current tablet is heavier than this so I am already so happy about my LG Gram. I opted for the laptop and not the tablet because I've had a touch screen laptop and it just didn't work for my needs, I am dismayed that when I ran my audio test it is not up to par with my previous laptops. Unfortunately design wise, LG decided to put the speakers below the laptop so everything is muffled. I know that ideally this should be on a table but that isn't always the case. Honestly though, I never work and play music on speakers, I am always wearing my noise cancelling headphones. LG did bring in some cool applications likes their photo/video editing software which works with my 4K gimbal camera! I am enamored with the screen and clarity of the pictures. As a fan of art Windows has their CAS app which finds art near you where you can use it as a background. Little surprises like this nestled in a laptop are always a win for me! Overall a great laptop and the battery lasts a long time! I can wear a laptop out with all the multi tasking I do but this Gram holds up and really surprised me with how long it lasts. It really stays in stride with me!